Oakland County MI

Biographical Sketch of Ernest M. Sprague

Sprague, Ernest M.; mgr. American Bridge Co.; born, Farmington, Mich., Oct. 20, 1865; son of Lorenzo and Laura G. Mead Sprague; educated, University of Michigan, 1888, B. S., C. E.; married, Denver, Col., March 8, 1901, Maude Sill; issue, two children; six years with Chicago & N. W. R. R., asst. engineer; since 1894, with American Bridge Co., and affiliated companies; last eight years, mgr. Cleveland branch; member American Society Civil Engineers, Masonic Order, Athletic Club. Recreation: Golf.

Biography of Alva A. Warren

Alva A. Warren, a citizen of Colton, was born in Oakland County, Michigan, July 21, 1836. His father, Z. J. Warren, a pioneer of Oakland County, Michigan, was born in New Jersey, August 31, 1801, and was for thirty years a teacher in the public schools. He also took a leading part in political matters, and held some important public offices. He moved from Michigan to Indiana, and front there to Illinois; then to Missouri; then to Iowa, and in 1852 he crossed the plains to California by ox team. He stopped in Nevada and Utah for seven years and … Read more

Biography of Barnabas Tibbals

Barnabas Tibbals, owner of a fine orange grove in Brockton Square, on the south side of Bandini Avenue, about two miles south of Riverside, purchased this place in August, 1887 and immediately commenced his horticultural pursuits. At this writing his land, consisting of ten acres, is all in orange trees, except a few deciduous trees and table grapes. About one-half of his trees are seedlings, and the rest Washington Navels. He has spent much labor in pruning, fertilizing and cultivating, since buying the place, and has now a very productive grove. The improvements on the place consist of a commodious … Read more

Philo Orlando VanWagoner

Philo O. VanWagner passed away on August 4, 1919 at Ida Grove, Iowa. His affliction was pronounced muscular paralysis. Philo was born on November 17, 1849 at Oxford, Michigan, and was in his 70th year. He attended school at the Oxford Academy. At the age of twelve, he moved with his parents to the country. When he was sixteen, he began his trade as a stone mason. He was united in marriage on October 15, 1873 to Miss Etta McVean. Five children were born, three of whom survive him: Nita, at home; Philo Jr. of Ida Grove; and Mrs. Lawrence … Read more

Kleitch, Joseph P. “Benny” – Obituary

Joseph P. “Benny” Kleitch, 73, of Baker City, died April 24, 2006, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. Recitation of the rosary will be at 7 o’clock tonight at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Deacon James Watt of St. Francis de Sales Cathedral will preside. Mr. Kleitch’s funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home. Pastor Dennis Sams of the Boise Uclid Church of The Nazarene will conduct. Vault interment will be at 2 p.m. at Hillcrest Cemetery in La Grande. Visitations for Mr. Kleitch will be until 6 o’clock tonight at the funeral home. Joseph P. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert H. Dawson

Dawson, Robert H.; lawyer; born, Pontiac, Mich., March 28, 1882; son of John W. and Jean Hamilton Dawson; educated, University of Michigan, A. B., 1903, and Western Reserve University, 1909, LL. B.; married, Pueblo, Colo., Sept. 14, 1910, Miss Luna Cooper; member Phi Delta Phi Fraternity. Recreations: Baseball and Football.

Biography of Edward H. Palmer

Edward H. Palmer, who is the head and the leading spirit of numerous enterprises of financial importance in Geneva, Ontario county, New York, and its vicinity, and whose keen foresight and unusual executive ability have been the means of greatly improving the business prospects of the section, is one of that class of citizens who labor earnestly to build tip the commerce and manufactures of the communities in which they live. and by so doing enrich and benefit the entire country. Mr. Palmer was born in Clinton county, Iowa, May 17, i855, and acquired his early education in the district … Read more

Biography of Samuel Morse Porter

Samuel Morse Porter. The career of Samuel Morse Porter is largely identified with the history of Caney, and no record of either man or community would be complete without full mention of both. A resident of this locality since 1881, and of the city itself since 1896, he has seen the little town grow and develop to substantial proportions, and may take a proprietor’s pride in this advancement, for it has been a part of his life work. With his own hands he has aided in the building up of what promises to be an important center of commercial and … Read more

Oakland County Michigan Tax Rolls, 1834-1840

Tax Rolls of Oakland County, Michigan, vol 1

Mrs. Edward V. Rowlett extracted the 1834-1840 Michigan tax rolls for the Pontiac Michigan chapter of the DAR, who self-published them in 1953 and presented copies to various institutions. Extracted information may contain the name of the assessed, description of the property being assessed, acreage, value of property, taxed amount, section, township range where the property exists. The values in the headers do change as you look at the various roll tables.

Biographical Sketch of Edward Brush Finch

Finch, Edward Brush; dealer in motor cars; born, Holly, Mich., Oct. 17, 1873; son of Nathaniel A. and Mary Hadley Finch; educated University of Michigan; married, Detroit, Mich., January, 1900, May Pruegs; issue, Edward B., Jr., William Roberts; member Michigan Naval Reserves and Michigan State Militia; 1900-1906, sec’y and treas. Pungs-Finch Auto & Gas Engine Co.; 1906-1908, asst. to factory mngr. and head of Technical Dept., Packard Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich.; 1908-1910, head of Inspection and Service Divisions with The Chalmers Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich.; July, 1910, established business dealing in Chalmer Motor Cars in Cleveland; pres. American … Read more

1894 Michigan State Census – Oakland County

United States Soldiers of the Civil War Residing in Michigan, June 1, 1894 [ Names within brackets are reported in letters. ] Addison Township – John W. Prince. Elijah C. Kelly. Harmon L. Curtis. George Nash, Andrew J. Close, Milton Fox. Jabez G. Angle, [Samuel Babcock]. Village of Leonard – William Yakely, William E. McMullen. Stephen B. Nowlin, Abbott Taylor. Henry Lapham, John Kipp, Andrew J. Bickford, William H. H. Eldred. George B. Nowlin. Jacob F. Bradt. Bradford Savory. Elijah B. Dodge, [Spencer Eaton]. Avon Township – Burdick Fuller. Anthony O’Brien, E. H. Sipperly, Jol’n J. Snook, E. A. Jennings. … Read more

North Oxford Cemetery Oxford, Oakland County, Michigan

North Oxford Cemetery Oxford, Oakland County, Michigan

Transcription of the North Oxford Cemetery in Oxford, Oakland County, Michigan. From the center of Oxford – East on Burdick St. .2 mi, North on Oxford Rd/Glaspie 1.1 miles, East on Oxford Rd .5 mi, North on Oxford Rd .9 mi, East on Oxford Rd .5 mi, North on Oxford Rd .4 mi. As you can see Oxford Rd makes many turns. The cemetery is on the East side of the road. Submitted by Christopher Schnur. Information collected September 2001.

Biography of Elijah Hamlin

(VI) Elijah, eldest son and second child of Captain Seth and Mary (Pitcher) Hamlin, was born in Alford, Massachusetts, February 8, 1767, died April 12, 1858, and was buried at Clarkson, New York. He witnessed as a boy many of the stirring scenes of the revolution and related to his grandchildren many interesting incidents of those clays of hardship and danger. He removed to Barre, Massachusetts, and from there to East Bloomfield, New York, about 1791. He purchased and operated a farm there which is now (1910) owned by his grandsons, John S. and Frank H. Hamlin. He was a … Read more

Stone Bill, or Tomahawk

The pointed mace, found in the early North American graves and barrows, is uniformly of a semi-lunar form. It appears to have been the Cassetete or head-breaker, such as we can only ascribe to a very rude state of society. It was employed by warriors prior to the introduction of the agakwut and tomahawk. All the specimens examined have an orifice in the center of the curve for the insertion of a handle. Its object was to penetrate, by its sharp points, the skull of the adversary. This was not done by cutting, as with the agakwut or mace, but by perforating … Read more

Biography of James H. Bush

James H. Bush, deceased, was one of the prominent and widely known businessmen of Boise, where he spent the greater part of his life. He was born in White Lake, Oakland County, Michigan, July 29, 1842, and was a son of Elias Oliver and Mary Jane (Fife) Bush, both of whom were well-to-do farmers and early settlers of Michigan and members of the Baptist church. James Bush was educated in Flint, Michigan, and in early manhood was a purser on a steamboat. In February, 1865, he sailed from New York for the Pacific coast by way of Panama, reaching Boise … Read more

Early Native American Gardening

Grand River Michigan Ancient Garden Beds - Plate 6

What proportion of the prairies of the West may be assigned as falling under the inference of having been abandoned fields, may constitute a subject of general speculation. It appears to be clear that the great area of the prairies proper is independent of that cause. Fire is the evident cause of the denudation of trees and shrubs in a large part of the area between the Rocky and the Allegheny mountains. Water comes in for a share of the denudation in valleys and moist prairies, which may be supposed to be the result of a more recent emergence from its former … Read more